FCC Requests Comments On Whether TCPA Applies To Internet-to-Text-Message Services

Edited by Archis A. Parasharami and Kevin S. Ranlett

Keywords: FCC, TCPA, Internet-to-Text-Message Services,

Last week, the FCC requested comments on four petitions for declaratory rulings relating to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), the law that launched a thousand class-action lawsuits (or at least seems that way). One petition (pdf), by Revolution Messaging, LLC, asks the FCC to classify text messages sent via the Internet as subject to the TCPA.

The TCPA provides for statutory damages to (among others) cell phone users who receive unsolicited non-emergency calls from "automatic telephone dialing systems." The FCC has always maintained that text messages qualify as "calls" under the statute. But recent advances in technology have blurred the lines demarcating what equipment constitutes an "automatic telephone dialing system." In its petition, Revolution Messaging observes that, by sending an e-mail to a special e-mail address, an